Erin

Never. I never ever thought I would read a book about Mixed Martial Arts fighting... cage fighting if you need a visual. It's violent and dangerous, and in my opinion just stupid. But then there was this book; a world-expanding read about philosophy and obsession, failure and hope. And yes, cage fighting.

While bored out of her mind at a writing conference Kerry Howley decides to follow a group of men who lead her to a makeshift fighting octagon in the conference hotel. It is here she witnesses her first MMA fight and undergoes a transcendent experience that she doesn't understand, but longs to replicate. That night she meets one to the two fighters she will follow over the course of the next three years. Inserting herself into their lives as a "spacetaker," Howely chases that unexplained otherworldly feeling while her fighters chase dreams of glory, fame, and brotherhood.

This book is wild. I learned more about MMA and phenomenology than I ever thought I wanted to (not that I actually thought about those things until now). It's absurd, and smart, and sad. In a word--captivating.